One of the horror genre's "most widely read critics" (Rue Morgue # 68), "an accomplished film journalist" (Comic Buyer's Guide #1535), and the award-winning author of Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002), John Kenneth Muir, presents his blog on film, television and nostalgia, named one of the Top 100 Film Studies Blog on the Net.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Tribute: Jonathan Demme (1944-2017)

The press has today reported the death of Academy-Award winning director Jonathan Demme (1944-2017), the talent who gave us our first glimpse of Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter.

Mr. Demme directed The Silence of the Lambs (1991), and took home the Best Director Oscar for his work on that film. That movie, and its thoughtful, intimate approach to serial killers (and matters of good and evil) inspired a slew of films and TV shows throughout the nineties.

Mr. Demme's impressive career in cinema began in the early 1970's and he directed in a wide variety of genres. Demme directed comedies including Something Wild (1986) and Married to the Mob (1988), and such documentaries as Stop Making Sense (1984), and Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains (2007).

Demme's dramatic films included not only the aforementioned The Silence of the Lambs, but efforts such as Philadelphia (1993), and Beloved (1998). In 2004, he directed the well-received remake of The Manchurian Candidate.

Mr. Demme's work was not limited to the cinema, and he also directed episodes of the acclaimed series The Killingin 2013 and 2014.

Today, Mr. Demme's near-documentary filmmaking-style and empathetic approach to lensing close-up shots are widely considered influential to the up-and-coming generation of film auteurs.

My deepest sympathy goes out to Mr. Demme's family and friends at this time of grief There are no words to make such a feeling of loss go away. However, film is unique in the sense that it permits for something like immortality.

Mr. Demme may be gone, but The Silence of the Lambs, and many of his other works too, will be watched and appreciated for decades to come.

1 comment:

This is sad. I consider his best work to have been "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Married to the Mob", although I know some people think his concert film "Stop Making Sense" was his best work (I personally don't see it). I thought Demme's choices in "Silence" worked in ultimate fashion to heighten tension and keep the viewer in a nearly unrelieved claustrophic, oppressive environment in an essentially actionless movie.

About John

award-winning author of 27 books including Horror Films FAQ (2013), Horror Films of the 1990s (2011), Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), TV Year (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007), Mercy in Her Eyes: The Films of Mira Nair (2006),, Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company (2004), The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi (2004), An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith (2002), The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film & Television (2004), Exploring Space:1999 (1997), An Analytical Guide to TV's Battlestar Galactica (1998), Terror Television (2001), Space:1999 - The Forsaken (2003) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002).

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